I found this quite interesting in the details the author builds the world with. I will watch for the next book in series. (I assume this is meant to be a series from the ending of the book.)

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—Chupeco craftily weaves magic, intrigue, and mystery into a captivating tale that will leave readers begging for the promised sequel. Being a witch, or an asha, is not out of the ordinary in Tea's world, but being a "bone witch" is another matter entirely. After Tea accidentally raises her brother from the dead, she discovers that she is destined to become one of the infamous Dark asha. Dreaded and feared yet highly valued for their services, the Dark asha are the only ones who can tame the demonic daeva, who threaten the kingdoms, but their taming comes at great expense. Tea must decide if the cost of losing her life, one battle at a time, is worth staving off the demonic onslaught. Or can she choose another path to save herself, her friends, and the boy she loves? Chapters alternating between her past and present seamlessly narrate the novel, leading up to Tea's mysterious exile. Because the plotlines have yet to converge in this installment, the book ends on the most excruciating of cliff-hangers. Chupeco uses vivid, descriptive detail, with nominal coarse language and violence, to set a rich tone that immerses readers in a vibrant and believable world. The short alternating chapters help move the story along quickly. VERDICT A strong choice for engaging reluctant readers and younger fans of fantasy who might not be ready to heft titles by Ursula K. LeGuin or Tamora Pierce.—Rose Garrett, Cliff Valley School, Atlanta

Brought by my sister when she came for a visit. Looks interesting. I look forward to reading this.

This moved so slowly that, despite my love of both fantasy and Asian culture, I put it aside several times (hence the long reading time.) It only began to pick up just past the middle, when I'd almost determined to abandon it for good. I must say that there were elements that strongly reminded me of The Wheel of Time: Powerful/magic filled groups of women (Asha here, Ajah in WoT) that have varying abilities depending on the color of their heartstone (minus the stone, the WoT Ajahs divide their talents and label them with colors, too) including black, which is shunned by all and extremely powerful in ways other Asha are not. There's a corresponding male group called the Deathseekers. The Asha have the ability to bond with another so that their minds can interact in thought and subtle ways. There's more, but you can read the book to find out.

The story is told in two parts, a present day interview with a bard and a girl, a black asha banished from the house of her sisters (see, I told you there was more), who is fighting monsters. The other is the back story of this girl, named Tea, as she goes to the town to become an accepted and then a novice in learning to be a Black Asha. When I didn't abandon the book, it was only to see if the two stories matched up (which they almost did-- I suspect the real matchup comes in the next book, though I doubt I'll read it.

My favorite part of the book came in the Acknowledgements: "And also to Tom Hiddleston, just because I've wanted to thank Tom Hiddleston for something. Keep doing what you do, Tom." For that, and the author bio, I have rounded the rating up to a 5/10.

Tags: 2018-read, bookcrossing, color-me-disappointed, don-t-want-to-rate, fantasy, give-me-my-time-back, great-title, i-got-bored, magic, ok-but-not-great, part-start-of-a-series, read, read-on-recommendation, rounded-up-in-star-rating, skim-read-til-the-end, thought-i-was-gonna-like, win-some-lose-some, ya-lit

To be released at the first ever book exchange at JordanCon. Ten Years and finally we get a book exchange table at a convention of readers!

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